Hunting for Curses
by Call me Potato. Sexy Potato
Summary: AU. "Damn it!" He cursed under his breath. He was supposed to capture her, NOT fall in love with her!


**Disclaimer: I own Nothing.**

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**Rating: M (For Gore an Adult Themes)**

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**A/N: Warring! The setting takes place in Modern, Non-Ninja-World, but with stuff like mermaids, witches, monsters and ect. Sooo yep, that's it! :P Oh and if You have Any questions just tell me and I'll try to answer :P****  
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"OHHHH! I'll drive the get-away, and you bring the glueeee!" One of his friends sang drunkenly, using a bottle of whiskey as a microphone. He stopped suddenly, face scrunched in concentration. "Er. Wait. No, that's not how it goes! Wait, I remember now!"

"Naruto, that's the fourth time you've said that!"

"No, I got it this time!" Naruto insisted. "I'ma start over! I DEDICATE THIS SONG TO MY FUTURE GODDESS...whoever she is! HAHA!" He continued his ridiculous song from the top, his voice hitching whenever he swallowed down his belches, and despite the laughs he received, he only sang louder.

Kiba Inuzuka, sprawled on the sofa pushed against the wall, blew out another weary mutter of 'annoying' under his breath when others began to join him on the drunken babble.

The rocking of the boat was hardly felt by him now despite the storm that battered the sails outside. He could hear thunder boom in the dark pewter sky, wind and rain rattle the windows and churn the bitter cold sea until their boat rocked dangerously; water washing violently upon the deck, sometimes managing to spill inside the warmth of the lower cabins. But it was nothing Kiba was not used to already although he admitted to being terrified out of his mind during his first storm a year and a half ago.

Given, it had been far more furious and twice more violent than the one thundering outside currently. It had been quite a rough night, even their Captain Asuma Sarutobi had said so when he reminisced on the day that brought them all together. Kiba remembered feeling completely out of his element—he'd even regretted acting so rashly and leaving his warm and decidedly safer home for this new reckless but more adventurous one.

His reasons for abandoning his parents, well _paren__t_and everything that was entitled to someone of the prestigious Inuzuka family was simple although it was a topic that he refused to breach again, even to his close friend Naruto. Kiba couldn't match up to the standards set before him by dozens of previous generations and, knowing so, had nothing more to offer except a letter of goodbye and a warning not to go looking for him—more for his brothers than his remote Mother. His Mother had invested a lot in him,- money and time, he was supposed to be a famous 'Beast tamer' like the rest of his family.

He always fell below the standard.

So he had only one escape, given he had no other skills: become a weapon expert, or a fighter, as he'd been the only one in his family to be gifted with the gene. He liked to think that was why he never succeeded with his Tamer career, as Naruto chugged down the rest of the bottle, because he was never meant to be one. There had always been wildness in him, a type thirst for adventure and freedom that his family never understood and were often unnerved by.

Of course, his family _was_ the adventurous type. Yet, they would never allow him access to freedom and his own mind. They would never allow him to slack off, even take a ten minute break. They never understood what **he **wanted. They would snort at the thought of leaving a place where the mornings were soft and thin fog skimmed the ground unlike his usual bitterly cold mornings where mist would cover the tumultuous ocean as far as the eye could see. Sometimes he awoke trembling, his lips blue and his face pale and his stomach grumbling loudly because he had been denied dinner last night for a screw up out on deck.

His family would never sacrifice their lives for something like this, where every meal was earned and where respect and loyalty was something that was held above all else. Even as he watched his fellow crew mates roar and have a laugh at Naruto, who was now swinging play shots at Sasuke, another friend, his parents would be horrified by their display and would never be able to understand the brotherly undercurrents that laced their shouts and laughs and even threats. They would be incapable of understanding that they would never really hurt each other because family looked out for one another—this he'd come to learn the hard way, after a good scuffle and stern talking to by the Star himself.

Nearly two years he'd been gone and not a single letter he'd received. Sometimes he brooded on it, wondering if his family had really thought so little of him. But then he would remember he didn't leave them any sort of contact information—he'd barely left them with a viable reason for his sudden disappearance. Only a formal goodbye and a promise that he would return someday. He mentioned he'd put his weaponry and fighting skills to good use but hadn't said where. So really he had only himself to blame for the emptiness in his mailbox as well as his heart.

"KIBA, GODDAMMIT! Get those damn things out of your ears!"

"I'm not on duty!" Kiba shot back but did pull his earphones out of his ears, sitting upright with a grumble. "What'd' 'ya want, Asuma?"

"There should be a Captain somewhere in there," he growled at him. Kiba gave him a blank look. Asuma sighed in defeat. "Go check the sails for me, I'm hearin' something loose out there!" he ordered, holding a casserole of mac and cheese. Kankuro, their cook, followed close behind with the plates and cups and a shit-eating grin on his face. Ah, so he'd been the one who suggested Asuma should ask him to go check the damn sails. He'd get him back later.

"What? It's pouring out there, no way!" Kiba complained. "It's probably just the wind!"

"Don't smart mouth me, kid!" Asuma sharply warned. Kiba rolled his eyes but knew better than to snarl back at the Captain. Too much. "I know the sound of a loose turnbuckle when I hear it! Go check and I'll let you have seconds! I doubt Naruto will be eating tonight…" He sighed when said man toppled off the table during a particularly rough tilt of the boat. He did not get back up.

"Aye, don't go tripping over your feet now, Dog Boy!" A fellow crew member, Guy, jeered and the others followed with chuckles. "Wouldn't want ya' to go overboard!"

"Fuck off, at least I didn't get my leg stuck in the mast like you did!" He smirked back and the laughter turned on Guy , who jutted his lip out in defeat and mumbled something about that being below the belt.

With that settled, Kiba took his glass of whiskey with him to his room. He placed the cup on his nightstand, frowning when it nearly slid off it from the boats violent rock. He pushed it back in place and quickly changed into warmer wear, zipping up his thick water-proof jacket and flipping the hood over his head to ensure the rain didn't totally soak him. He only took another mouthful of his drink before he tossed the rest out in the sink. He'd rather do kitchen duty for three weeks than drink himself silly in front of all these bastards. When he came back out, he found them all roaring in laughter at another tale Lee was telling about his femme fatale sweetheart.

"Hurry up, Kiba!" Asuma shouted with a cigarette in his mouth, already serving the rowdy bunch of boys. "Before this glutton here," he swatted Guy's hand away from the casserole with a spoon, "eats your share! Again!"

"I don't think he'd mind, neh, Kiba?"

"Hands off my food, Freak!"

"You're looking a little tipsy, maybe you should just skip out on the cheese!" Guy suggested.

"You eat my food, I throw you overboard," Kiba glared.

"Heh, he definitely eats up for his strength," Neji murmured with an amused smile.

"Oh, so you guys meant this kind of eat?" Guy gasped with mock-innocence then laughed, grinning mischievously. "But of course you guys meant this! What was I thinking? Like Kiba could get a chick in bed even if she's the easiest bitch on the block!"

"Guy," Kiba snarled, about to march on over to put the little shit in place when Kakashi stood up, waving him back with a hearty laugh.

"C'mon, Guy, chill out! Kiba's been a little blue lately! Cut 'im some slack, will you?" Kakashi gave Guy meaningful look and the man grumbled a bit but promised he'd leave Kiba's share alone and stop making jokes about his pathetic sex life.

Kiba just rolled his eyes at both of them and made his way back out... only to wish he'd put up more of a fight the instant he did. It was absolutely freezing. He braced himself against the harsh winds and icy rainfall. His boots screeched against the slick wood as he walked and he held on tightly to the wall as the water rose and fell below. His ears caught the noise that Asuma had been concerned about and he ran to it when there was a calm, his fingers gripping the loose turnbuckle in seconds. The bloody thing always gave them trouble and the last time they'd ignored it, it had caused some unsightly problems. Kiba tightened it again, shielding his face from an onslaught of sea spray when the tide slammed against the side of the boat. His hood flew off his head and he cursed, trying to get it back on, but in seconds his hair was flat down his head and he could feel water dibble down his back and seep into his shirt.

Stupid sea. Stupid storms, stupid cold, stupid Captain, stupid Guy. He could honestly say this job he'd gotten himself involved in was something of a love/hate thing. He was all for it at times but could hate it on a dime. There were other jobs fightly, dog-loving, weapons experts like him could do: maybe something in the forest or joining the Konoha force to hunt the real big and nasty things that haunted the most daunting places of earth. But he'd chosen a more nautical route, more out of urgency to get away from his family than because he wanted to hunt the nasties that lurked beneath blue waters. It'd been his decision, though, so all he could do was suck it up and deal with it.

'_It'll be over in a couple of months,'_ he thought as he made his way back to the hatch. People who took the sea route could only be in service for two years before they needed to find employment elsewhere: such was the law and Kiba wasn't about to try his luck by squeezing in a third year. '_Maybe I can join the Konoha force and go out on some cool missions—sounds way better than drowning out here cuz' I fucking slipped or some stupid shit like that._' His eyes caught movement and he looked, staring out at the violent sea that hurled their boat. Streaks of lightening speared the sky, the boom of thunder was deep and reaching, but the seas were clear of any life. He figured it was the trick of the eye but then he saw a head bob in the waves.

'_Holy shit, is that a person!?_' He thought eyes wide. He rushed to the gunwale and searched the sea but he found nothing. He cursed and had been about to run inside to report what he'd seen when the head popped up again, closer this time, and now he could see that it was a girl, which made things about a hundred times worse.

"Hey! HEY!" He saw navy blue hair when lightening scratched the sky and when he blinked she was gone again and that convinced him to go the fuck inside and get help. Kiba very well scared the living crap out of all the others when he shouted there was a girl in the water.

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…

"A girl?" Asuma shouted, alarmed. "Shit! Move it, Inuzuka, there's a girl out there whose probably drowning as we speak!"

Asuma was one of the first ones out, barely having time to pull on his jacket and boots before he was stepping into the bitter cold of a storm full-swing. Kiba followed closely behind, the others running into their rooms to change into better-suited attire than boxers and shirts.

"Where'd you see her?"

"Over there! That way!" Kiba shouted, an eye shut against the particularly violent downpour. "You see her anywhere?"

Asuma leaned over the rail and Kiba saw his hands clench into fists, his shoulders and back going rigid. "Yeah, I see her…" he replied, sounding more gruff than panicked like he expected. "I didn't think we'd be seeing any of them so soon. Whatever they're doing so close, I don't like it, and taking things for chance isn't the type of man I am!"

"What're you talking about? Who's them?" Kiba asked, watching the girl move with the waves without any hurry. Another strike of lightening and he thought he saw green eyes. "Asuma?"

"Mermaids," Asuma grimaced.

"Mermaids?" Kiba repeated, having heard tales of them from the others and even Asuma himself. He'd warned against them and their treacherous ways and cautioned not to let themselves be enchanted by their dulcet songs. They were scornful, he'd said, and no matter how beautiful or enrapturing they might appear, their goal was to lure them close to the waters edge and drown them. Many had fallen for mermaid traps and rare was the sailor who managed to capture the mermaids interest.

There were legends that said mermaids could either bring a man the greatest agony or the greatest pleasures. But they said the man needed to be a good man, with pure intentions at heart, and Kiba admitted that in this world the worst of the worst were often the ones toughest to venture into the seas. It didn't help that mermaids were finicky things, malicious and brutal, so more often than naught they hurt rather than loved. But it was that shred of hope that they could love and love forever that lured a man into their honeyed trap, Asuma had told them. It was better to plug their ears and ignore the stirrings than to take a leap of faith.

Mermaids were something that people whom worked for Konoha force hunted as well, Kiba thought without remorse. And if they'd already reached mermaid territory, no doubt Asuma would be hauling out their best equipment and giving them another lecture on not removing the earplugs lest they be led to their deaths. Mermaids had not been on their hunting agenda, Kiba thought, but if they became an issue he was sure the other guys would have no problem hunting them, too.

"We weren't supposed to encounter them for another month or so," Asuma frowned. "They must've widened their range. Get back inside, we don't need this one to start her song. Warn the others we've got mermaids on our hands while I ask Sasuke to steer us away from here for the night. With any hope, they won't cause any problems while we hunt for serpents!"

Kiba nodded but not without giving that girl one last look. Another flash of lightening and she was gone; gone under the rough waves and to wherever. There was a sense of restlessness, almost guilt, at the thought of using his scythe to impale a creature who had never wronged him and whose nature it was to lure in lecherous and unworthy men to their deaths.

But this is what he signed up for, as he warned the others of mermaids. He took particular notice in Shino, another crew member, who fisted his hand in what Kiba thought was anticipation. Not that he blamed him: Kiba and every other fighter on the boat, save for Naruto and Sasuke, the second in command, had been waiting for this: the chance to hunt a mermaid and bloody well survive. A year and a half they'd been crew mates and not once had they seen mermaids—mostly because their objectives were to hunt down other sea monsters and Asuma steered clear of them. Not anymore, if they reached mermaid territory already.

Just bringing in one mermaid could bring them more money than he could begin to count. And even if Kiba wasn't in it for the money (although having some extra cash was always nice), that didn't make his ambition any less true.

This would be it: he would hunt down a mermaid and he'd very well survive it and return home with his head held high, able to say that there was actually one damn thing he was good at.

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